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Assessment of
American Bar Association
CLE Activities and Operations
April 13, 2010
Today’s Discussion
• Project goals
• Situation analysis
• ABA’s model compared to other CLE
providers
• Presentation of recommendations
• Next steps
2
Project Goals
• Reaffirm the educational mission of the ABA.
• Restructure, re-task and reposition the ABA
Center for CLE consistent with that goal in a
manner that increases revenue to fund ongoing
CLE operations and return profit to sponsoring
ABA entities.
• Establish the scope and process for evaluation
of the ABA’s participation in ALI-ABA, and other
educational collaborations.
3
ABA MISSION AND GOALS
MISSION
To serve equally our members, our profession and the public by defending liberty and
delivering justice as the national representative of the legal profession.
GOALS
GOAL I: SERVE OUR MEMBERS.
Objective:
Provide benefits, programs and services which promote members’
professional growth and quality of life.
GOAL II: IMPROVE OUR PROFESSION.
Objectives:
Promote the highest quality legal education.
4
7 Sections specifically mention the provision of education in
their mission statements.
10 more specifically refer to education or the provision of
CLE in their stated strategic objectives.
Over 400 CLE programs are annually hosted by the ABA and
its entities.
The provision of CLE is a core
function of the ABA.
5
CLE has Membership Impact
Pulse 2007
Among ABA members…
• CLE had the strongest positive influence on renewal decisions of all the 37 products,
programs, and services included in the study (including Section membership)
• 78% said it was a somewhat or very important influence their renewal decisions.
• 73% said advanced CLE was important, and just under 50% cited broad-based CLE and/or
basic CLE as strong influencers.
Brand Prospect Segmentation Study 2009
This study showed that the number one thing lawyers and law students seek from a
professional association is education and tools to help them be (or become) a better lawyer.
Many of the areas included in this factor can be addressed via CLE:
• Access to resources that can make me a better lawyer
• Access to the most up-to-date information in my profession
• Access to resources that will assist me in my day-to-day practice of law
• Access to resources that are specific to my practice area
• Staying up to date on trends and issues
• Learning from experts in my field
• Gaining a better understanding of various areas of the law
6
CLE has Financial Impact
ABA CLE ACTIVITY REVENUE FY 2009
TOTAL: $13,258,044
Center for CLE,
$4,844,634 37%
Other Entities,
$8,413,410
63%
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CLE has Financial Impact
ABA CLE ACTIVITY FINANCIAL
PERFORMANCE FY 2009
Program Production Profit Number of Number of
Revenue Expense Profit Margin Customers Programs
Center for
CLE 4,844,633 2,060,394 2,784,239 57% 29,583 283
Other ABA
Entities 8,413,410 5,708,799 2,704,611 32% 16,951 125
Enterprise
Total 13,258,044 7,769,194 5,488,850 41% 46,534 408
NOTES
• Revenue and expense lines exclude intra-ABA transfers (e.g. $1.1 Million transferred to entity sponsors as their share of
CLE revenue).
• Expense line excludes overhead (approximately $2.2 Million for Center for CLE). Unable to calculate overhead for other
entities).
• Customer totals include individual customers who may attend multiple programs.
• Other entity events include any event with more than 50% of the schedule dedicated to CLE programming. 8
CLE has Financial Impact
INDIVIDUAL PROGRAM PERFORMANCE
(CENTER FOR CLE)
FY 2001 FY2009
Total Registrants 16,303 27,600
Total Programs 81 271
Average 201 102
Registrant per
Program
Average Revenue $34,414 $13,793
Per Program
Note – Excludes ABA Connection events. In 2001, this program was free and attracted 30,933
attendees. Under a paying model in 2009, it attracted 2,063.
Observations…..
- Competition in the CLE marketplace has exploded in the last ten years.
- We are working harder for our return.
- Fewer, stronger programs to the right market returns more than many weaker programs. 9
Comparing Ourselves to other CLE Providers
State Bar CLE Departments and CLE Entities
We asked….
State Bar of Arizona
- What do you see as your mission to your State Bar of California
parent bar, its sections, and its members? Colorado Bar Association CLE
District of Columbia Bar
-How would you describe the relationship you The Florida Bar
have with the Sections in your bar Institute for CLE in Georgia
association? Do you provide them with a Massachusetts Bar Association
direct financial return on the programming you Maryland State Bar Association
host for them? If so, how is that return Institute of Continuing Legal Education (Michigan)
determined? The Missouri Bar
New Jersey Institute for CLE
- Do Sections or any element of your New York State Bar Association
organization go to CLE providers other than North Carolina Bar Association Foundation
you to put on CLE programs? Ohio State Bar Association
Pennsylvania Bar Institute
- What experience have you had with Virginia CLE
subscription pricing for your CLE programs? State Bar of Texas
Does your bar offer a CLE subscription to any Washington State Bar Association
outside CLE providers as a member benefit? State Bar of Wisconsin
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Comparing Ourselves to other CLE Providers
State Bar CLE Departments and CLE Entities
They answered……
The goal of CLE departments in the states is to generate enough revenue to fund operation and
expansion of services to a level that meets the educational and membership goals of the parent bar
while returning a financial reward to the Sections that provide content.
Sections are required to work with the CLE provider of the parent bar to deliver accredited, revenue-
generating programs.
The CLE departments within many of the bars interviewed find ways to do member benefit or low-
revenue programming in a uniform way that makes the best use of all of the bars financial and staff
resources and maintains a recognized brand for the bar.
Sponsoring sections are paid a royalty by the parent bar after expenses for their role in providing content
to the programs that generate revenue. Sections pay fees and/or direct expenses to the parent bar for
member benefit or low-revenue programs.
Many state bars have had success with bundling CLE and subscription pricing for members.
The CLE entities interviewed widely noted that the relationship between their operations and the ABA,
both the Center for CLE and ABA entities, is confusing and lacks coordination.
11
Comparing Ourselves to other CLE Providers
National CLE Providers – ALI-ABA and PLI
ABA Center ALI-ABA PLI (FY08)
for CLE (FY09)
(FY09)
Revenue 5.2 Million 13.5 Million 43.6 Million
Expense 5.4 Million 14.8 Million 44.2 Million
Loss 200,000 1.3 Million 600,000
Note: ALI-ABA and PLI numbers are taken from financial reports inclusive of
their entire operation (e.g. membership sales, publishing activities, etc.)
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Comparing Ourselves to other CLE Providers
National CLE Providers – ALI-ABA and PLI
ABA Center for CLE ALI-ABA (FY09) PLI (FY08)
(FY09)
Total Staff 26 74 195
Total Programs 283 252 353
Distance Learning 267 188 116
Live/In-person 16 64 237
Programs per capita 22 9 9
of Programming
Staff
Live Distance $25 - $175 $149 - $299 $299
Learning Pricing
MP3 Distance Free - $119 $59 $49
Learning Pricing
Three Day Live $775 - $1,495 $1,449 ($795 Web $1,895 (Also have a
Program Pricing access) $2,795 5-day model) 13
CHALLENGE: At the ABA, delivery of CLE suffers
from a lack of coordination, creativity and strategy.
• Programming decisions are made individually at
multiple levels both inside and outside the
organization.
• Programming is reactive and does not follow a
strategy or long-term direction.
• Delivery platform and production decisions are made
at multiple levels by multiple entities resulting in
multiple delivery mechanisms and a widely varying
customer experience.
• Service and performance expectations are not clearly
14
defined.
CHALLENGE: Our Structure Undermines
Performance
• Limited content revenues - caused by marketing
efforts that are focused on individual products and
limited in scope, strategy and duration.
• Limited product development - caused by silo’d
programming approach that can’t effectively craft a
portfolio of the most timely topics with the most qualified
faculty.
• Lack of cohesive educational brand – caused by
internal forces essentially competing against each other.
• Rudimentary use of technology - caused by the ABA
as an organization not having an overall strategy and not
putting its technology resources to the right use. 15
SOLUTION: Creating an Effective CLE Solution
Requires Fundamental Changes
• Financial: Position the Center for CLE as self-
supporting with a business and mission focus to
maximize the return on its efforts for the ABA
(membership) and ABA entities (profit).
• Technological: Fund ongoing development of cutting
edge enterprise-wide educational delivery platforms as
defined by the Center for CLE and its client entities and
supported by the IS group, provide adequate training
and mandate use.
• Organizational: Make the Center for CLE responsible
for educational activities across the ABA, with authority
to manage key business decisions. 16
Primary Recommendations
• Position the Center for CLE as a self-supporting center that
maximizes the return on all of its efforts to the benefit of the ABA
and its entities.
• Restructure the staff within the Center for CLE into functional teams.
• Use scale and new technologies to reduce costs and increase the
quality and availability of educational programs and products,
bettering the end-user experience.
• Enhance entity revenue and program effectiveness by adopting
policy that names the ABA Center for CLE the exclusive provider of
educational programs and products for ABA entities.
• Work with ALI-ABA to develop a joint strategy for the utilization of
ABA member expertise, providing CLE to ABA members and
providing support to the ABA’s CLE endeavors.
• Define and enforce a policy and procedure for evaluating CLE
programming ABA-wide as well as for entering into outside CLE
collaborations. 17
Position the Center for CLE as a self-supporting center that maximizes
the return on all its efforts to the benefit of the ABA and its entities.
Rationale End state/benefits Specific actions
The current tracking of CLE expense Clear tracking and reporting of the Unify accounting for all CLE
and revenue within entities makes it impact of CLE to the bottom line of programming under the Center for
impossible to track the true impact, the organization and its entities. CLE using standard LOB’s.
return and effectiveness of the Develop standard financial reporting
educational activities of the on all CLE Activities for use by the
Association. A model whereby effective revenue
Standing Committee on CLE, Non
generating CLE activity is allowing the
organization to provide a stronger Dues Revenue Committee, Finance
Committee and all entity clients in
The Center for CLE is increasingly platform for higher quality and more
determining CLE program
unable to support programs of limited effective distribution of member
effectiveness.
revenue capacity and other projects benefit free or low cost CLE.
deemed necessary to the ABA’s As the default model, use a straight
mission, growing increasingly reliant royalty structure for CLE co-
on general revenue to cover sponsored by an entity.
overhead. In consultation with entity clients,
establish a fair market schedule of
fees that are paid to the Center for
the services it provides to programs it
co-sponsors or supports, including
program development, program
marketing, program distribution and
program accreditation.
18
Restructure the staff within the Center for CLE into
functional teams.
Rationale End state/benefits Specific actions
Current, silo’d approach limits the Marketing group with upgraded skills, Reorganize the staff of the Center for
Center for CLE’s ability to develop tools, and practices for campaign CLE under functional teams with
and sell critical content management and analysis. senior leadership and skilled
specialists in the core areas of the
Staff teams are entity and product Programming group expert in the
Center’s mission.
facing, not functional. emerging areas of the law and
supported by customer research to Upgrade marketing capabilities with
Cross marketing opportunities haven’t
build an effective CLE portfolio. additional staff, focused training and
been fully tapped.
campaign development that is less
Production group expert in the latest reliant on e-mail.
technology for program delivery and
Develop new marketing programs
innovations in adult learning theory.
using multi-channel marketing and
cross-promotional tie-ins linked to
Operations group with the necessary ABA Publishing.
skills to support a significant Invest in or link systems to improve
educational enterprise. sales and marketing analytics.
Increased integration of Publishing
and CLE marketing.
19
Use scale and new technologies to reduce costs
and increase the quality and availability of educational
programs and products, bettering the end-user experience.
Rationale End state/benefits Specific actions
Independent contracting decisions A unified function manages and Centralize CLE production within
are made across the organization negotiates all CLE-related purchasing Center for CLE to maximize
with regard to program delivery relating in true economy of scale in economies of scale.
services. negotiating price. Collaborate with ABA publishing on
Prevailing CLE delivery model Ongoing product review and development of CLE products to
strongly favors the teleconference. evaluation ensures that program ensure maximum economy of scale in
delivery mechanisms are up to date negotiating production cost.
Aftermarket product development and
and exceed the expectations of
on-demand access severely limited Use emerging new technologies for
customers for ease of use and quality
for activities occurring outside the program delivery as they become
of presentation.
center. feasible and expected by our
customers.
Expanded product offerings from the Expand capacity for supporting
CLE portfolio are available to distance access to live CLE events.
customers more quickly, are easier to Expand capacity for delivery of video
find, and are available in the most as the next generation of providing
convenient formats available. distance CLE.
20
Use scale and new technologies to reduce
costs and increase the quality and availability of educational programs
and products, bettering the end-user experience. (Continued)
Rationale End state/benefits Specific actions
Tools used to manage registration The processes, tools and structures Actively participate in the search for a
and marketing outreach are outdated within the Center for CLE meet or new member management system
or inadequate. exceed the capabilities of other and ensure it sufficiently manages
national CLE providers. events and individual registration as
Accreditation process is viewed as well as customer relationships.
slow and cumbersome. Meetings are easily set up and linked
through the communication channels Develop landing page templates to
Sections spend a significant amount of the sponsoring entity. display entity sponsored CLE to their
of time and resources supporting non- members.
accredited educational programs. Marketing and presentation to
members of a sponsoring entity takes Build a staff team within the Center
full advantage of that existing for CLE focused exclusively on
relationship. delivery of non-accredited member
benefit programming.
Efficient processes are in place to
quickly support production and In consultation with client entities,
delivery of member benefit programs review internal process for MCLE
in a manner that makes the best use accreditation and build new systems
of staff and other resources. to make the workflow more efficient
for all involved.
The accreditation process is
automated and easy to complete for
all clients utilizing the MCLE system.
21
Adopt policy that the ABA Center for CLE is the exclusive
provider of educational programs and products for ABA
entities. (PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT)
Rationale End state/benefits Specific actions
The prevailing model has created a Sections continue to determine their Between entities and the Center for
vacuum in the management and CLE offerings, but under varying CLE, establish mutually-agreed
leadership of CLE at the ABA. financial models depending on the ground rules for how CLE decisions
business case for each title and will be made.
The flow of revenues creates an
positioning within the broader ABA-
independence that causes decisions Develop guidelines that help identify
CLE portfolio.
that are ultimately less profitable for content opportunities (i.e. gaps in the
the ABA and its entities. Upfront conversations and discipline CLE portfolio) and resolve overlaps
about the nature of each program and early in the planning cycle.
-weak or redundant CLE offerings
its commercial potential.
-sub-optimal pricing
Consistency and best practices in
-inconsistent, ineffective use of
distribution and marketing (e.g.,
multiple distribution channels
multiple pathways in bringing
-narrow, uncoordinated marketing programs to the market).
programs
The Center for CLE is currently a
service center that responds to
sections but is unable to provide
overall coordination or leadership
22
Adopt policy that the ABA Center for CLE is the exclusive
provider of educational programs and products for ABA entities.
(PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION)
Rationale End state/benefits Specific actions
Valuable content is currently hidden Standard, effective platform lets Support the development of and
in section-specific silos. members and non-members search participate in any effort that enables
all ABA content. discovery and access to all ABA-CLE
No standard approaches are in place
content, regardless of its source.
to access, sell or share this content. Business rules govern access to and
cost of content. Conform to forthcoming ABA-wide
User need for content is often
standards for content (e.g., tagging
situational, not driven by section Better recognition of ABA’s
and indexing).
allegiance. educational brand, leading to
improved member value which drives In consultation with client entities,
Look, feel, and quality vary widely
higher recruitment, satisfaction, and implement an enterprise-wide
across program delivery platforms
retention. business-rules framework governing
leading to a significant lack of brand
access to and pricing of CLE content
awareness. Increased discovery and utilization of
which includes subscription and
ABA content by members and non-
No opportunity for subscription sales package access to CLE programs.
members, driving content sales.
or cross portfolio program pricing.
Establish and implement a business-
The teleconference market has driven technology plan for CLE
become saturated, leading to lower program distribution to stay ahead of
total registration for an increased market trends and customer
number of offerings. preference.
An increasing number of entities are Provide a structure for support of
hosting accredited and unaccredited member benefit educational
activities outside of the Center, programming by entities.
making expanded use or distribution 23
difficult.
Work with ALI-ABA to develop a joint strategy for their utilization
of ABA member expertise, provision of CLE to ABA members
and provision of support to the ABA’s CLE endeavors.
Rationale End state/benefits Specific actions
ABA members serving on the faculty Increased recognition of ABA as a Look to ALI-ABA to produce all non-
of ALI-ABA programs value the partner in ALI-ABA’s enterprise entity sponsored CLE.
prestige and recognition it affords. leading to enhanced member value.
Negotiate a standard discount of 50%
ABA members who are consumers of Increased exposure for ALI-ABA to for all ABA members on ALI-ABA’s
ALI-ABA products do not see a the ABA membership. programs and products.
linkage in to the ABA in these
programs. Negotiate an annual royalty payment
to the ABA for its participation and
The Center for CLE is called upon to support of ALI-ABA.
produce non-entity sponsored
programs, taxing its ability to serve Implement standard procedures for
ABA entities and drawing resources cross marketing of ALI-ABA and ABA
from their programs. Center for CLE programming with
each organization supporting the
marketing efforts of the other.
24
Define and enforce a policy and procedure for evaluating
CLE programming ABA-wide as well as for entering into
outside CLE collaborations.
Rationale End state/benefits Specific actions
While policy exists for review of CLE Stronger overall portfolio that meets Review and revise the policies and
programming and collaboration, the ABA’s educational mission and procedures for review by the Standing
compliance and enforcement is lax. other stated goals. Committee on CLE of CLE programs,
sponsorships and collaboration.
Outside collaborations have lead to Protection of the ABA educational
less than optimal financial returns and brand. Establish a rubric within that policy
customer experiences. that adequately measures for any
Assurance of performance in any request, the financial implications,
Outside collaborations have come collaborative agreement. including potential profit and
with unintended consequences of lost opportunity costs, and gauges the
opportunities and lost potential for Proper management and full customer experience and its impact
additional content development. utilization of ABA’s intellectual capital on our member value proposition.
to its maximum benefit.
Establish internal processes that
Assurance of a quality experience for support compliance with the policy by
any member taking part in a program providing transparent and timely
or product resulting from vetting of all proposals.
collaboration.
25
The Center for CLE
must take the mantle and become a leader in
defining and pursuing the stated educational
mission and goals of the ABA and its entities.
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BUSINESS PROVIDING CRITICAL CLE SERVICES MANAGING AND DEVELOPING
OF CLE • Program development and design PLATFORMS
• Responsible for overall P&L and • Initial Program delivery. • Ongoing innovation in CLE
individual product P&Ls. • Aftermarket conversion of program delivery mechanisms.
• Management of CLE portfolio. to product. • Collaboration across the
• Responsible for marketing, • Seamless registration and organization to facilitate
including pricing. accounting processes. implementation of required
• Return money to content technology.
• Customer service and support
producers and value to members • Efficient and accurate accreditation
and customers. services.
26
What’s Next?
DIALOG
With us, with yourselves, with your customers and members.
Feedback to Robert Rupp by April 30.
ruppr@staff.abanet.org
312-988-5680
DECISIONS
May 10 - Stakeholders Meeting, May 11 - Standing Committee on CLE
DIRECTION
June 4 – Presentation of CLE Strategic Plan to the Board of Governors.
27
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